Tidbits
by yikkety
Summary: A pseudo sequel to Crawling Back. Small little drabbles and ficlets that follow Jess and Rory through their life and relationship.
1. Chapter 1

Making It Official

 _Bzzzz_

"Jess, you're phone's ringing, _again."_

"It's just Liz," Jess called from the kitchen, "it's the fourth time she's called today."

Rory closed her laptop, grabbing his phone as she got up, and made her way into the kitchen. "Then it's probably important," she told him handing him the phone.

"It's not," he told her not looking up from the sauce pan he was adding herbs into.

"How do you know?"

"Because, it's Liz," he said turning and leaning in the counter. "I don't think she has ever had anything _important_ to say in her entire life."

"Your sister could be sick or something."

"Then Luke or _your_ mom would call."

Rory let out a frustrated growl. "Will you _please_ just call your mother back so your phone will stop distracting me while I try to work?"

He held his arms out to her, hoping she would calm in his embrace. "Relax, Babe. I know your boss can be a real ****, but I'm sure you could come up with a way to get him to lay off," he said with his eyebrow cocked seductively, trying to lighten the mood.

"Isn't Matt technically my boss?"

"Either way," Jess shrugged nonchalantly, earning an elbow in the ribs from his girlfriend. "Let me get dinner finished. Then we'll get some food in you, which should put you in a better mood," he kissed her softly to avoid another assault, "and I will call Liz after we eat. Happy?"

Rory let out a "hrmpph" before leaving the kitchen and flopping down on the couch to wait for dinner, her brain was to fried to try to work on the zine right now, and Jess was right, she needed to eat to be able to function again.

After a dinner of baked ziti and a glass of red wine, Rory was indeed in a much better mood, and feeling a bit more relaxed, her laptop open in front of her and a second glass of wine on the end table to her left. Jess picked up his phone and reluctantly dialed his mother's number.

He didn't even get a proper greeting in before she started in on him. "Finally, I've been calling all day." She spoke into the phone loudly, as Liz was prone to do.

"Did you need something Liz?" Jess asked his tone bored and flat. He fought the urge to point out that calling during the day did her no good, since he was at work.

"I just wanted to get confirmation on a little rumor I heard today," when Jess made no attempt to respond she continued, " so, I heard my big brother and his wife today, and they were talking about my son and his girlfriend, a beautiful girl named Rory."

"Is there a point to this story?" Jess asked, Rory chuckled next to him.

"I didn't even know you and Rory were back together, much less living together."

"It's only been like a month."

"Were you ever going to tell me?"

"Didn't plan on it."

"You weren't going to tell your own mother that you and your soulmate were back together?" Jess rolled his eyes at Liz's insistence on referring to Rory that way and fell back into the couch in frustration. Rory sipped from her wineglass, more interested in his conversation than what she was working on.

"Sorry," Jess said shortly, "it didn't cross my mind. I figured Luke would tell you."

"Luke shouldn't have to," the anger was rising in her voice. I'm your mother, I should be on the list of people you tell these things to."

There was silence on the line, Jess hadn't heard his mother speak to him in anger very often in his life, she usually left that up to her boyfriends, and Luke. The last time she had spoken to him this way was when she decided to send him to Stars Hollow at seventeen.

"I didn't think it was that big of a deal," he said quietly, apologetically.

"It just would have been nice to know," her voice changed from anger to hurt. "I could have helped you move or something."

"There wasn't much moving to do, we just brought her stuff down in bags."

"We could have had like a special dinner or something to celebrate this momentous occasion." He chuckled slightly at Liz's ever present flare for the dramatic.

"I wouldn't call it a momentous occasion, but if it will get you off my back we could do that." He knew the subject wouldn't be easily dropped by his mother, and he would end up having to do this anyway, this just avoided weeks of teary phone calls.

Rory looked at him, confused from only hearing half the conversation. Jess looked at her and nodded, letting her know they would talk later.

"You'd do that?" Liz asked with joyful amazement in her voice. "You'll come out her for dinner?"

Jess was feeling a little guilty about this whole thing, and wondered how that was possible, because just minutes ago he was fighting the urge to yell at his mother that she didn't deserve to know anything about his life, since she didn't care about what happened to him for most of it. "We could do it here if you want. You've never been here before."

"Does next Saturday work? It's almost fair season, and we'll be gettin' pretty busy soon."

Jess already regretted his decision to invite her, realizing that meant her husband as well, but he felt he couldn't back out now. "Uh, sure, probably, let me get some things figured out and I will let you know." Liz happily agreed and told her son good bye.

He put his phone down and noticed the wide-eyed stare of his girlfriend. She had closed her laptop, and turned her body towards him on the couch with her legs pulled underneath her. "So, Liz is coming to dinner," was all he said before grabbing Rory's wine glass on his way to the kitchen for a beer.


	2. Chapter 2

**So here is the second little "Tidbit," this one came to me in a dream, so it's a little shorter, but I really like it and wanted to write it down.**

2: Stormy Night

It was nearly nine pm and Jess wasn't home yet. Rory put her laptop down and noted that the rain had started to come down harder and was now accompanied by thunder and lightning. This was the first storm she had encountered in Philadelphia, and Jess not being home was making her a little skittish.

She called him, hoping that the late meeting he was having with a potential author had already wrapped up and that she wouldn't be interrupting him.

"Hey," he answered after the second ring, "the storm caused the meeting to start a little late. I should be headed put pretty soon."

"Okay," Rory said, sounding a little disappointed. She was about to hang up when the power went out with a pop, causing her to let out a startled gasp.

"You okay?" Jess's voice held a tone of concern.

"The power just went out." She said quietly, hugging herself slightly. She was still getting used to being in the apartment without Jess, she was able to do most of her work from home, but still spent quite a bit of time at Truncheon when he was there, the lack of light was making things that much creepier for her.

"There's a flashlight in the kitchen drawer, the one with all the random junk in it. The batteries should work."

She fumbled her way to the kitchen and felt around until her hand grasped something that felt like a flashlight. "I found it, it works," she said relieved as the beam of light shone into the hallway leading to the bedroom.

"Good, I'm leaving the store now, we still have power, but I don't know if the trains were affected, and walking in this rain is gonna suck."

"Take your time, I'm fine. Wait and see if the rain dies down so you don't get soaked."

"K, I love you."

"Love you too, see you soon."

She carried the flashlight and her laptop back to the bedroom, the computer had enough battery left that she should be able to keep herself busy checking e-mail and surfing the internet until the power came back on, or Jess got home. Barely ten minutes had passed and someone was pounding on the front door. There was almost no way that he could have gotten here that fast, and she knew he had taken his keys this morning when he left, knowing she would be leaving before him. The pounding became more insistent and was now accompanied by a man yelling to be let in and cursing loudly. She sat stock still in the bed, afraid her breathing might give away her location and cause the angry man on the other side of the door to get in.

A loud clap of thunder, that shook the whole building, caused Rory to jump and squeal loudly, clapping her hands over her mouth to muffle the accidental sound. The pounding and yelling continued and Rory began to shake. She realized she had not slid the chain lock closed, she had been expecting Jess to be home much earlier. The man at the door was getting angry, the cursing louder and more frequent. She heard a door slam, not sure if it was hers, she ran across the room and jumped into her closet. Thinking whoever was at the door was coming after her. She sat in the closet, tears silently streaming down her face and waited.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

In the hall outside his apartment, Jess noticed a man leaning his head on the door, it was still dark so he couldn't make out any more than that. The man's hand clenched against the door, "Guys, let me in," he pleaded, his voice raspy from overuse.

As jess got closer, he noticed the smell of alcohol surrounding the guy, and figured he was just drunk and got confused about which apartment he lived in. "This isn't your place, Man." Jess growled. The man heard his voice and looked around before embarrassingly shuffling up the stairs. He unlocked the door, the apartment was still eerily dark and quiet, he figured the power must still be off and that Rory had gone to bed.

The bad was empty, Rory laptop sat closed on top of it. He was about to turn around and see if she was in the bathroom, when he noticed a faint light coming from underneath the closet door. He opened the door and Rory shrank back momentarily, before realizing it was Jess. She started sobbing again immediately, and he tugged her out of the closet and into is lap. "T-there was," she stuttered through her tears, "someone at the door. I thought he was going to break in." She answered to the unasked question of why she was in the closet.

"It was a drunk guy who had the wrong apartment." Her face flooded with relief, but the tears and sobs didn't stop. He held her face in his hands and tried to soothe her. "its okay, Ror, I'm here." She wrapped her arms tightly around his back and buried her face in his neck, taking in huge gulping breaths of his scent. She calmed down some and moved to lap her forehead against his. "You okay?' He asked quietly, his hands rubbing patterns in her lower back. She nodded and he leaned in to kiss her. He had intended it to just be a soft, sweet kiss, but she immediately latched on to him and deepened it. She needed him to help calm her down. She pressed herself into him, the solidness of him anchoring her to the moment. She wanted to melt into him and forger the last hour. He laid her down and she allowed herself to forget, to let go and be taken by him until the rain became a quiet patter on the window, the soft glow from the flashlight slowly dimming.


	3. Chapter 3

**So this is significantly longer and super fluffy. After this however I am stuck, I have stuff I know that I want to happen, but I want it to be farther in the future and I don't want to write out of order. So I guess if you have nay suggestions i will try to see if I can write those. Honestly though I started the next little part four times and haven't come up with anything good yet.**

 **I am working on multiple other stories, but I don't want to post them until I have enough written that I know where I am going, and have enough written that it doesn't take me several months to update.**

 **On that note, for the few of you who started _Forever Crimson_ , know that I haven't abandoned it, I am just only able to write it in my free time at home instead of at work, since it is rated M, and I don't have as much of that. However Chapter 2: A Very Stars Hollow Thanksgiving is comng along nicely and will hopefully be posted by Thanksgiving( 11 months after I posted chapter 1).**

Tidbit #3 Twenty-Four

"You have got to be kidding me," Jess groaned into his pillow.

"Good morning Mom." Rory chirped into the phone.

"On this day twenty-four years ago," Lorelai started her story about of her daughter's birth. Rory tried to snuggle up to her boyfriend, but he had rolled onto his stomach and already fallen back to sleep. She sighed and pouted, though no one could see it. "That boy had better not be being mean to my baby girl on her birthday," Lorelai stated in the middle of her familiar tale, hearing the sigh.

"He's just asleep on the other half of the bed. As far as he is concerned, it's still the middle of the night and my birthday doesn't start until the sun comes up. You'll have to forgive him for that, since he was not the one who felt like he was sitting on dynamite and pushed me out."

"It's not fair to celebrate birthdays only during daylight hours, especially since his is in the summer."

"It's really not a big deal, he'd just be grumpy if he was awake anyway."

"I'll let it slide this time, but let him know that I am not pleased. Now, where was I? Oh, yes.." she finished her story as she did every year, punctuated by Rory's question about if the Walton's did anything similar. Lorelai wished her daughter a happy birthday and allowed her to go back to sleep.

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The alarm went off and Rory noticed that the sun was brighter than it should have been at seven AM. She noticed two things as soon as she rolled over; first that Jess was not in the bed, and second that the clock read 8:15. Before she was able to scramble out of bed in a panic, she noticed a note on the bed next to her: _Special Birthday Breakfast in the kitchen_. It was written in Jess's handwriting.

She rounded the corner into the kitchen to see him leaning on the counter, he pushed the lever on the toaster down as soon as he saw her and handed her a giant mug of coffee, "Poptarts will be ready in two minutes."

"Poptarts _and_ coffee, what did I do that earned me such a special breakfast?'

"If I didn't know you better, I would think that you are trying to mock my special breakfast." He said kissing her.

"Luckily for me, you do know me, and my love of processed sugar." He handed her the warmed rectangles while she was speaking, and she bit into one at the end of her sentence. "I couldn't imagine a better birthday treat," she said washing the pastry down with a cup of coffee. "The late start was also nice, but if we are going to get anything done today, I need to shower and get ready to go."

"We're not going in today, shower sounds good though," he smirked, "I'll join you." Rory gave him a skeptical look, "there is nothing important going on at the store today and you don't have to have the zine done for a few more days, so Lorelai Leigh Gilmore," the dramatic way he said her name made her giggle, "for your birthday my gift to you, is doing whatever you want, all day long, until 8, when we are being forced to meet the guys and Gemma for drinks. I did actually get you a gift too, you'll get it then." She frowned slightly, "now, can I join you for the shower or is it a private event?" She grabbed his shirt collar and pulled him to her mouth as they stumbled to the bathroom.

^%^%^^%^^%^%^%^%^%%^%^%^%^^^^%%^^%^^%^%^%^%^%^%^^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^

After the shower, she went back to bed, having Jess read to her until she fell asleep. He then switched books and read on his own, having promised Rory he would stay with her, since that's what she wanted, but unable to fall back to sleep himself. He often wondered how her caffeine consumption never seemed to affect her sleep. He gave up ever getting an answer though, chalking it up to the wonders of the Gilmore genes.

The rest of the day was spent with movies with all the candy and other junk that was required for watching them, and after much protesting form Jess (he would have to reanalyze _whatever you want_ in the future) Indian food. "I've never had my birthday off before, unless it fell on a Saturday or Sunday, but even then I was probably studying or helping at the inn or something. Even my twenty-first birthday I had community service."

"Ror," he interrupted her rant, "stop talking."

She pouted, "Why?"

"Because I can think of so many better things you could be doing with your mouth." He kissed her softly.

"You taste like chocolate," she giggled, "but I thought this was my day to do whatever _I_ want?"

"I'll make it all about you,' he said rolling them so she was pinned between him and the couch. She moaned into his mouth.

"This part of your birthday was not my idea," he said form the bed where he was putting on his shoes, "it's kind of a tradition we have for birthdays. I tried to get us out of it, but Gemma was hearing none of my protests." Her sympathetic smile let him know that she was perfectly fine with going out with his friends. Despite working with them, she hadn't really gotten to know them all that well. She was looking into the mirror on the back of the bedroom door, making final adjustments to her outfit and he walked up behind her. She immediately began fussing with his collar, and didn't notice the box in his hand until he took her hand off his neck and placed the gift into it.

"I know you don't wear a lot of jewelry, but I thought," he explained as she opened the box to reveal a silver charm bracelet with a little crystal book dangling from it, "that this is something you could wear all the time and personalize and…" she attacked his mouth with wild intensity, braking away only because she needed to breathe, "so I'm guessing you like it?"

"It's amazing, Jess. I'll wear it all the time."

"There was a coffee mug charm too, I almost got it instead, but I felt like this one was more _us_."

"This is perfect, I may have to go get the coffee one myself though."

"Don't," he interrupted, "I kind of asked your mom about this, and mentioned the other charm." Rory nodded, understanding that Lorelai had already purchased the other charm. "You didn't hear that form me though."

"Of course not," she breathed, placing a light kiss on his waiting lips.

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"So, your Mom tells you the story of your birth, at the time of your birth every year?" Rory nodded at Gemma's shocked question. "Every year?"

Rory's eyes darkened a bit and she sipped her drink quickly, "except my twenty-first.' Everybody but Jess looked at her as if expecting an explanation. Jess squeezed her hand under the table. "We weren't speaking then." The guys knew some of the things Rory had been dealing with at that time, having heard Jess talk about them. But Gemma, being new, knew nothing about that particular rough patch in Rory's life. She wanted to ask Rory what had happened during that time, but the way the air seemed to be suddenly pressing down on her, told her it wasn't a good idea. "It's okay," said Rory, sensing the shift in everyone's mood, "we worked everything out not long after, and she did come to the party my grandparents threw for me, so I still got to see her. Though we never did make it to Atlantic City."

"What were you going to do in Atlantic City," Chris asked the question, but everyone seemed to want to know the answer.

"Play roulette at Midnight with our money in 21, drink 21 shots and something that had to do with 21 guys, that we would have had to cancel anyways, since we were both in relationships."

"I wish I had such a cool Mom," Gemma reflected, "you're so lucky."

"I am," said Rory, with a note of finality, closing the book on that dark chapter of her life to enjoy the rest of the evening with people who were quickly becoming friends. It had been a really great birthday, she hadn't gotten to actually see Lorelai, but did get to talk to her and knew that she and Luke were coming down over the weekend which was just 2 short days away. She did however get to spend the day with the man she knew, without a doubt was the love of her life.


	4. Tidbit 4: The Pink Lines of Doom

Tidbit 4: The Pink Lines of Doom

Rory held the test stick in her hand, the box in the other, rereading the directions. The two pink lines in the window were pretty clear. Gemma looked around the door frame, "I read it right, didn't I?" Rory nodded sadly, and slid her eyes up to her friend's, all the while wondering how she had gotten herself into this situation.

12 hours earlier***********************************************

Rory walked into Truncheon, eager to get started on her story about the art and music festival coming to town next weekend. She had coordinated with the organizers to have the e-zine cover the event, and in turn they would advertise the bookstore, hopefully bringing in more customers. Jess was in New York, meeting with a large publisher, about a possible larger printing of his book. The other three guys seemed to be wandering in the store, not sure what to do so early in the morning. "Where's Gemma?" She asked, the missing female was supposed to be working up front, and they would need her when the men broke free of sleepiness and hangovers and got started their tasks for the day. Chris shrugged. "Brandon," Rory questioned, since the two were officially dating. He should know her whereabouts, "Do you know where she is?"

"No," he said blandly, wincing at his coffee and adding more sugar. "She hasn't been feeling well, maybe she's taking the day off." He said, gruffly, sounding annoyed. Rory wouldn't let him off the hook without more of an explanation, and he knew that, reluctantly adding, "We had a fight yesterday, okay? It was bad." That was all he said before getting up and leaving. Rory worried still, Gemma wasn't the kind of person who would skip work, especially without calling, just to avoid someone. She decided that she needed to call and check on her and made her way into the office, where Matt was fighting to stay awake. He went to watch the front of the store after Rory explained what was going on.

Gemma's phone rang three times before she picked up. Her voice sounded groggy and wet. Clearly whatever illness she had been fighting was not getting any better. "Sorry," she told Rory, "I overslept. I should be there in about an hour."

"You sound terrible, are you sure you shouldn't just stay home? The guys could probably handle it without you."

"I'm fine, I'll be there as soon as I can." With that she hung up, Rory was kind of annoyed with her friends brush-off, but quickly put it behind her and got to work on her story.

By late morning, Rory's inspiration and energy were waning. She needed coffee and a snack. She pulled herself out of the office on a mission to get to the coffee shop down the street that had decent coffee and excellent muffins. On her way out, she noticed Gemma leaning boredly on the counter, weather it was from exhaustion or depression, Rory wasn't sure. "Hey, I'm going to that place with the amazing muffins. You want your usual?"

"No," she said, looking repulsed by the thought of her favorite treat.

"You look terrible, maybe you should just go home."

"I need to be at work."

"You're rarely gone, I'm sure you have sick days left, if not I do; I'll tell them to give you one of mine, you really shouldn't be here."

"I'll be fine," Gemma said, taking a large steadying breath, "I'm good now. Go get your coffee." She added with a forced smile.

The line at the café was long and Rory was beginning to regret her choice to come here when another employee came up to help and the line began to move faster. On her way out, cup and small bag in hand she saw a familiar face at one of the tables. "You know you have a perfectly good office just down the street," she said to the man with his head in a manuscript.

Brandon looked up at the sound of her voice. "Did Gemma show up?" Rory nodded. "Good, I think I'll stay here though."

"Whoa," Rory said taking the seat opposite him, "the fight was that bad?" The look in his eyes when he glared at her was answer enough. "So are you guys like…done?"

"I have no idea." He sounded sad, but he was trying to cover it by acting annoyed. "I don't want to talk about it." He turned his attention back to his work, and Rory left, chewing on her bottom lip as a myriad of emotions ran through her mind.

When she arrived back at Truncheon Gemma looked worse, which Rory wouldn't have though possible if she was not witnessing it herself. She was just about to demand that Gemma go home, not that she had any real authority to do so, for the sake of them all, just as Gemma gagged and ran to the exit. Chris was also witness to the scene and glanced at Rory, seemingly for guidance. "I'm gonna take her home. You're going to have to take over out here. And get ahold of Brandon, he'll want to know what's going on. I think."

She arrived in the back alley as Gemma straightened, her stomach contents on the pavement. "Hey, let's get you home." Rory said soothingly, with a hand on the other girls shoulder.

"You don't need to ride the bus with me. I appreciate the thought though."

"I drove today." Rory replied, hauling her up and around toward her car.

Gemma's apartment wasn't far from the store. After they climbed the four flights of stairs, Rory helped her onto the couch and asked, "do you need anything before I go?'

"Can you stay?" Gemma's eyes darted around the room.

Rory looked closely at her friend, her eyes were a mix of fear and sadness. "Okay, what's going on?" Gemma said nothing, a terrifying thought occurred to Rory, "Oh my God, did he hit you?" Brandon Powers didn't seem like the kind of guy that would hit his girlfriend, but sometimes you never knew.

"No," Gemma said quickly, "Oh! No, Rory, it's nothing like that." Rory's face held a look that told her friend she had better start explaining. "We just had a really bad argument."

"I gathered that much," Rory voice dripped annoyance, she was going in circles with these two today.

"It was about our future. I asked him if he thought about us being together long-term and if he ever wanted kids and he freaked out."

"Well, yeah. You guys have nly been together a few months. I wouldn't even ask Jess something like that yet."

"I just need to know," she said quietly. Rory's face contorted in confusion. "I think I might be…" he voice trailed off.

"have you taken a test?"

"I can't, I'm too scared. I need to know how Brandon feels before I find out."

Rory groaned in frustration, baby drama between two co-workers was not something she wantedto be involved in. "I'm assuming you didn't mention this possibility to him last night?"

"Of course not!"

"You need to. Right now he just thinks you're being crazy clingy. If he knew where this was all coming from, he'd probably give you straight answers."

"I don't want him to stay with me just because I'm pregnant," Gemma growled, indignantly.

"If you don't talk to him you may lose him for nothing, is that what you want?"

"No."

"Then call him now. Ask him to come over so you can explain what happened last night, and tell him when he gets here."

"What if he won't come over."

"Then tell him over the phone, but I think he'll come." Rory left then, as Gemma got out her phone, but promised to return as soon as she got things figured out, if she was needed.

She was sitting in the office, with her story almost completed, and most of her burger and fries eaten, when her phone buzzed:

J: What's wrong?

She had texted him with the message, "help me," just after leaving Gemma's apartment earlier.

R: You left me with crazy people!

J: ? Sorry, I'll be home tomorrow.

R: I'll tell you about it then. I love and miss you.

J: Love you too

Gemma texted her a few minutes later asking if she could come back to the apartment. Rory groaned at the idea of having to deal with that situation again, but Gemma had become a good friend, and she didn't like letting friends down.

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Gemma sat there with the unopened box in her hands. "I didn't want to do it alone," she said in almost a whisper. Brandon was taking the possibility of fatherhood about as well as his girlfriend, with fear and apprehension, but couldn't stay, but couldn't stay due to a meeting with an artist who was only in town for the day.

She walked quickly out of the bathroom, "can you look at it," she asked Rory, "I think it's positive, but I want to make sure?"

 **Gotcha! Did anyone really think I would have our Rory pregnant so quickly after reuniting with Jess. I realize this part is mostly about 2 unimportant characters, but it helps lead in to the next few sections.**


	5. Chapter 5

Tidbit 5- The Buyer

She lay in bed trying to relax, but she just couldn't. She was now part owner of Truncheon, and was having a hard time wrapping her head around the events that had led to her buying Brandon's share.

 **Three Weeks Earlier…..**

Rory walked into the office in the middle of a heated conversation between the guys.

"It's not that I wasn't to do it," Brandon said pinching the bridge of his nose, "but we've only got a few months before Gemma is due, and I need the money so we can get a house."

"There's no other way?" Demanded Chris

Brandon huffed out a breath and shook his head, "we already tried to get a loan, went to six different banks. The only way we are going to be able to afford a house is for me to sell my part of the bookstore."

Rory watched the men over the top of her computer, trying not to be noticed.

"None of us, even if we pooled all of our money, is in a position to buy you out." Jess pointed out.

"We're going to have to find someone else then, "Brandon added desperately.

"We can't sell to just anyone," Matt piped in, "it has to be someone with our vision. This isn't Barnes and Noble."

"We'll interview buyers together, we all have to agree." Jess said succinctly, drawing the meeting to a close. He sat down next to Rory as the others filed out. She put her head on his shoulder and smiled sadly at him. He kissed her forehead before reading what she was working on.

 **Yesterday…..**

Three weeks passed without so much as an inquiry into the bookstore partnership. Brandon was becoming bigger and more uncomfortable by the day. Two days later Brandon came in with a rare smile on his face, Rory and Jess were both out that day. "I found someone," he said proudly, "guy from California. His dad is on publishing and they have money for days."

"So are they going to incorporate us into their larger company?" Matt asked, ever mindful of becoming "corporate sellouts."

"No, Dad is up in New England, he does newspapers. The kid struck out on his own, I guess he'd doing pretty well."

"A newspaper publisher form New England? Seems like someone Rory would know, "Chris added.

"Maybe, I 'll ask her tomorrow morning. He's coming in around two. Clear your schedules."

 **This Afternoon….**

"Hey, that guy is going to be here soon," Chris said ducking his head into the office.

"What guy?" Asked Jess as he and Rory looked up from their lunch.

"The guy who wants to buy Brandon's share," replied Chris. "Did we forget to tell you guys?"

The look on Jess's face answered the question. Rory wiped her mouth on a napkin, "Do I need to be out there?"

"I guess not technically, since you're not a partner, but if you're not too busy, it'd be nice. He's from a newspaper family or something, so you may be like a lynchpin.'

Rory looked at him quizzically, but then nodded and went back to eating.

Jess was editing the e-zine for Rory when they heard a flourish out in the store, actual words muffled by the closed office door. "Showtime, I guess." Mumbled Jess. The two made their way out into the store when Brandon was introducing a tall blonde man, who was mostly obscured from the couple's view, to Matt and Chris.

"Ahh, here's our other partner," Brandon said turning and leading them in Jess' direction. He was unable to finish his introduction though, as he was interrupted by a loud gasp from Rory. The look on her boyfriend's face indicated they already knew this guy.

"Logan," Rory breathed.

He smiled but to her it looked more lethal than anything. "Ace, hey." His voice held an undercurrent of malice only recognizable by those familiar with the New England society circles.

"See, I figured she probably knew him," Chris added cheerfully not sensing the mood shift.

"No," Jess grumbled turning to go back to the office.

"No, What?" Matt asked.

"No, we are not letting this guy buy Brandon's share."

"Oh, come on Jack, you know I'm good for it." Logan taunted.

Jess's hands clenched into fists, Rory grabbed his arm to keep him next to her. Logan stared at his ex-girlfriend. The eyes of the other three shifted between the two men who seemed to have unfinished business.

"This is low, even for you." Rory spat before trying unsuccessfully to pull Jess away from the volatile situation.

"What's going on here?" Matt asked.

"This guy is everything you don't want in here Matt," she was positioning herself between Jess and Logan as she explained. "Him and his father are sharks; the worst kind of corporate scum. He's only doing this to try and hurt Jess."

"Huh?" Brandon uttered, "How does he know Jess?"

"I don't really, only met him once," Logan answered casually, his gaze unfaltering.

"Jess has what he wants." Rory answered with an undercurrent of hate.

"Don't flatter yourself, Ace." Logan said with a snort of derision. "I'm here strictly on business, who you slum it with is your choice."

"My ass," grunted Jess.

"I think you should go," Chris said, trying to play diplomat. "It's pretty clear we won't be selling to you."

Brandon panicked, "we don't have anyone else."

"I'll double the asking price." Logan threw out sensing his impending failure.

Chris, Matt and Brandon all looked at each other.

Logan smirked at Rory, Jess stiffened behind her. "I'll buy it," she blurted. Everything around her seemed to stop as everyone looked at her.

"Do you have that kind of money?" Chris questioned, knowing what they paid her.

"I have a trust fund," she said confidently.

"Which," Logan cut in, "you don't have access to until you're twenty-five." His smugness was becoming obvious to them all.

"I'm sure my grandfather could be persuaded to give it to me a little early." She said pulling her phone out of her pocket. Logan crossed his arms self-assuredly in front of his chest.

"Rory, how lovely to hear from you this afternoon." Richard Gilmore answered his phone cheerily.

"Hello, Grandpa. I don't mean to be rude, but I'm kind of crunched for time and I have a business proposition for you."

"Okay," Mr. Gilmore responded, somewhat confused. His granddaughter was a journalist, not a business man.

"One of the owners of Jess's bookstore needs to sell his portion, and you've been here and have talked to Jess about it, so you know it's a sound investment." The elder man's throat clearing ended her rant. "Anyway, I was just wondering if I could use some of my trust fund money to buy it."

Richard obviously had many questions about the topic, and began to ask them. He could tell Rory was getting flustered, and when he asked why she responded. "The other potential buyer is here right now."

"Why are you trying to undercut him then?" This behavior was not like Rory at all.

"It's Logan Huntzberger."

At the sound of the young man's name Richard immediately blanched, nothing good would come of Rory's career if the Huntzberger's were involved. "How much," he asked.

Rory smiled as she told him the number, knowing already her grandfather was saying yes.

"I can have the money wired to you tomorrow, is that soon enough?"

"I'm sure it will be. Thank you, Grandpa." She said, before they exchanged pleasant salutations.

"The money will be here tomorrow," she told the men who were all staring at her. "You can leave now." She told Logan

He made to protest, but was stopped by everyone agreeing with Rory and asking him to l\eave.

"She turned to Jess, softly kissed his cheek and whispered, "let's go home."

 **A/N My plan for this whole story was for them all to be written in this memory style fashion, a couple have just not worked out that way, but my plan going forward is for them to be written more like this, since this isn't necessarily a sequential story, but more snapshots of life. I do want to try to keep them in order however.**

 **I hope Logan's appearance wasn't too contrived, I always feel like trying to get him into post-series lit stories seems forced, but in my mind this is something he would have done.**


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